21st Century Security and CPTED, 2nd Edition

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Epilogue

The future of infrastructure protection and crime prevention through environmental design

(CPTED) depends on how events unfold over the next few years. The reorganization of many

government agencies under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one

of the most signicant changes in government structure in decades. The mission of DHS is the

protection of people and the critical infrastructure of the built environment. The United States and

the countries of the free world are all struggling with the same problems: terrorism, workplace

violence, and crime.

This book is intended to provide guidance to the professionals who are responsible for design-

ing, constructing, and securing our built environment: architects, engineers, security directors, law

enforcement, and urban planners. The goal is to provide a clear and comprehensive approach to

protect our built environment from the wide range of possible threats.

When attacks occur against our buildings and structures in the future, will we be prepared to

adapt and to adjust our way of life to respond to the ever-increasing restrictions of movement and

freedom? Since the events of September 11, 2001, terrorism has become a dominant theme in gov-

ernment policy decisions, and that has ltered down to the built environment. Security can no longer

be viewed as an after-the-fact add-on feature of a facility (guards, CCTV, access card systems, etc.).

Rather, the real value is to have security and life safety decisions made from the beginning of site

analysis and the design process.

If there was ever a time for maintaining and improving security, it is now. The world has been in

an economic recession since September 15, 2007. It is now 2012 and many of the European Union

countries have teetered on bankruptcy. The United States is so underwater in its debt that even a

Bipartisan Super Committee could not come up with recommendations to balance the national

budget. The Federal Government has defaulted several times in the past few years because they

could not approve an operating budget. Many banks have defaulted and gone into receivership. The

economic misery of the Great Recession has changed the business of business. The cost of medical

insurance is so outrageous that many persons will work for medical coverage. Few can qualify for

a mortgage, and police departments are laying-off ofcers because of the decrease in tax base of

most municipalities. As a result, the typical pattern of cutting back on security as a non-income

producing business expense must be reevaluated. People are angry and on the verge of a revolu-

tion. Being homeless and hungry and losing your 401K will do that to you. Protecting the assets

of your home, your business, your neighborhood, your city, and your country is all about having

the citizenry stable and working. All of the dots are connected in the universe by six degrees of

separation. We are interconnected as a community, and having a sense of safety and wellbeing is

essential for the business community to continue to invest. With investment comes growth and

jobs. People pay taxes, and then the bank’s loan money for real estate and development, which

leads to architecture and construction. The buildings design in security and hire security guards

and security monitoring companies. Police patrol the neighborhoods and built environment. All

the dots are connected.

What will be the tolerance for the inconvenience of personal and baggage search for every public

activity? Are corporate America and government agencies prepared to incur the expense needed to

design the protection needed to reduce the opportunities for threats that face us in the twenty-rst

century?